The NBA kicked off the first All-Star Saturday night of the Adam Silver era and the Washington Wizards John Wall stole the show as the Eastern Conference ran out as winners in the Slam Dunk contest.
The former first overall pick was voted “Dunker of the Night” for a nifty reverse slam in which he jumped over the Wizards’ mascot, G-Man.
Toronto Raptors small forward Terrence Ross edged Jeremy Evans last year to win the Slam Dunk contest, paying homage to Vince Carter and DeMar DeRozan along the way. He came into Saturday’s festivities as the defending champion who had been picked by many to repeat.
The second-year swingman brought out Drake to help him in his first dunk attempt. The Toronto Raptors global ambassador held the ball for Ross as he bested Damian Lillard in their head-to-head matchup.
A couple of Toronto-based athletes were full of support for Ross heading into the event.
https://twitter.com/BuycksWorld13/status/434894415874637824
Unfortunately not everyone quite understood what was going on. The rule changes associated with the East versus West format that the NBA implemented this year led to confusion amongst many viewers.
In a completely unrelated, but noteworthy matter, Nick Cannon’s choice as the evening’s host appeared to have been a polarizing one.
https://twitter.com/highkin/status/434862990559809536
And of course, a few more random observations from an interesting night in the NBA.
https://twitter.com/lukezim/status/434903073572810752
https://twitter.com/netw3rk/status/434906163940171776
https://twitter.com/BenGolliver/status/434904950624120832
